By JESSICA OROZCO
The Harold B. Lee Library will undergo further renovations at the end of this semester which will re-open the south entrance of the library and add classrooms, an auditorium and offices to the south end of the library’s third floor.
Warren Jones, special planning manager of the Planning Department, said the purpose of the addition, which will begin at the end of this semester and be completed in April of next year, is to provide a small solution to the lack of classrooms that the Smith Family Living Center will create when it undergoes reconstruction.
“The library will provide more classrooms to make up for it,” Jones said.
Jessica Sloan, office supervisor at the department of space management, said the SFLC has 26 classrooms.
The new part of the library will include classrooms, an auditorium and office, and production space, Jones said. There will be four classrooms that will seat 60 to 70 students, and the auditorium will seat 180 to 200 students. The office and production space will include five permanent offices, conference rooms, and open office space for full-time employees and students.
The new auditorium and classrooms will also be used to church purposes, Jones said.
Cali O’Connell, administrative assistant at the university librarians office, said that after the renovation is completed next year, the south entrance of the library will be open for students.
Clarence Jackson, 22, a junior from Dainlon, Miss., with an open major, said he is excited about the re-opening of the south entrance.
“I like the idea of being able to go into the library through the south part more than I am about the classrooms,” Jackson said.
O’Connell said the Center for Instructional Design will be moved to the production part of the third floor of the library. CID is a center that develops university level Web courses.
She said the renovation of the library will become university space, which means that the south part of the third floor will belong to the university, not the library.
New carpet and study tables will be put in the old part of the library to match the new addition, O’Connell said.
“There will be a difference between the two parts, but it will not be drastic,” she said.
The classrooms, auditorium and offices will contribute to the renovation of the entire library, which has been underway for about two years. O’Connell said the main part of the renovation has been the underground addition to the north part of the library.
The addition of the library is primarily finished, O’Connell said, but follow-up details and minor renovations are still being done.
